The Girl Down The Hall
by thehereandnow
Summary: Quinn Fabray moves into an apartment down the hall from the one Rachel, Kurt and Blaine share.   **Rating & summary will be updated at a later time**
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **This idea popped into my head earlier this evening and I had to get it started before I forgot about it. Let me know what you think and if there is anything you'd like to see let me know. I haven't been mulling this one over for a week like I normally tend to do so it can go anywhere! I hope you enjoy it. Also, see the author's note at the end for a little extra something!

**Chapter One**

Quinn watched the boy and girl standing in the opposite corner of the elevator, pecking away on their phones. She had seen them before, a week ago on the day she had moved into the building, but never talked to them. She doubted they even recognized her. The boy was carrying a yellow plastic bag that was filling the air with the delicious smells of Chinese takeout. Quinn continued to watch the duo, and she wondered how long they had been together. She was searching the girl's left hand for signs of a ring when the brown haired girl lifted her head, smiled, and locked eyes with Quinn. Quinn's eyes darted away and she tightened her grip on the messenger bag that was slung over her left shoulder, her ears burning.

"You're the girl that just moved in down the hall, aren't you?"

Quinn nodded, "I think so, yeah. I live in 12E."

"Kurt and I live in 12A. I'm Rachel by the way, he's Kurt." Rachel elbowed Kurt who lifted his head and gave Quinn a slight wave before returning his focus to his phone.

"I'm Quinn."

"Well Quinn, it was nice finally meeting you." Rachel exited the elevator, Kurt following her, still engrossed with the phone.

"You too, have a good night!" Quinn said, going left as Rachel and Kurt went right.

Kurt placed the bag of food on the counter and began removing the takeout boxes as Rachel took plates from the cabinet. Kurt's phone buzzed and he picked it up and tapped the message icon. He read for a brief moment before turning to Rachel, frowning. "Blaine isn't going to make it home for dinner. Someone called off. Again. He's going to be stuck at work for a while."

"We could invite her over for dinner." Rachel suggested, her eyes lighting up.

Kurt raised an eyebrow, "Invite who over for dinner?"

"Quinn!'

"That girl from the elevator?" Kurt asked, getting a glass out of the cabinet by the refrigerator.

"Yes, her name is Quinn. If you hadn't been so intrigued with your phone you would have known this. Anyway, she's new here, she doesn't know anyone and it would be nice of us. Neighborly if you will."

"Well, sure then I guess." Kurt replied, continuing on pouring himself a glass of water from the Brita pitcher.

"I'll go get her." Rachel smiled, slipping her shoes back on. She walked out of the apartment, pulling the metal door closed behind her and turned left.

When she arrived at 12E she raised her hand to knock but then paused, unsure what to say. "Hi, I thought it was kind of sad that you have no friends here and now we have extra Chinese take out so we thought we would share" didn't seem quite right. She bit her lip, and then knocked three times before clasping her hands in front of her and standing on her tiptoes.

A moment passed before the door opened revealing blonde haired Quinn, the jacket, tights and boots she had been in earlier now replaced with bright green footed pajamas covered in large owls in blue, dark green and yellow. The hair that was straightened earlier and parted on the side was now pulled into two pigtails at the back of her head. Rachel's lips turned upward into a grin at the sight of Quinn's pajamas and confused expression,

"Hello?" Quinn looked around, unsure what to do and slightly embarrassed by her appearance. She wasn't prepared for visitors, having only been in New York for a week.

"Hi Quinn. Kurt and I, well Kurt's-…we have extra Chinese food and we wanted to know if you would like to come join us for dinner."

Quinn looked down at her outfit and then back into her apartment where she had set a TV dinner on the counter before answering the door.

"You don't have to change or anything, I actually really like your pajamas. But I'll understand if you don't want to come."

Quinn nodded, "Actually Chinese food sounds a lot better than the TV dinner I was going to have. Let me just change back into my clothes from earlier and then-"

"No, no! Don't change. We'll do a pajama party!"

Quinn raised an eyebrow at the overly excited brunette. "Well, okay I guess." She walked into the apartment and put the meal back into the freezer, grabbed her keys from the bowl beside the door and then followed Rachel down the hall to 12A.

**A/N:** When I write about specific clothing I normally like to go find something to describe, I am not real into fashion so I find it easier to do this. So, here's a link Quinn's pajamas (I want a pair!). I am thinking about including links to any specific outfits I use in the future, is that something you would like or no?

.com/gp/product/B005GEODOY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=coolamazdisc-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B005GEODOY


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Quinn followed Rachel into the apartment that looked identical to her own, except slightly larger. The furniture was even similar, Ikea everything was everywhere. The living space was open, the kitchen off to the right, a dining area to the left and a living room straight ahead. A hallway went off of the living room to the left. Kurt sat at the table, in black and gray plaid pajama pants and a matching button up pajama shirt. He was surrounded by takeout boxes and three plates each with a glass of water and chopsticks beside of it.

"I'm in my pajamas, sue me." Kurt said, throwing his arms up in the air, causing Rachel to laugh as she moved out of the way so he could see Quinn. Kurt gave Quinn a once over and then smiled, "Alright, I am jealous."

"And I feel like the odd man out." Rachel said, walking through the living room and back the hall.

"Well hurry up, rice isn't good when it's cold and there is no way to reheat it without ruining it." Kurt yelled as she walked away.

Rachel walked into her bedroom, the smaller of the two in the apartment, and rifled through the bottom dresser drawer in search of her favorite pair of pajama pants and then pulled a matching shirt from the drawer above. She quickly pulled her hair into a messy ponytail before walking out of the room.

Rachel walked in to the living room in her bright pink pajama pants covered in tiny white hearts, and a plain white short sleeve shirt that hugged her small frame to an unusual sight. Kurt's head was propped on on his hands, his elbows resting on the table and his entire body was shaking. Quinn sat opposite him, her mouth agape.

"Did I miss something?" Rachel asked, taking the seat between Kurt and Quinn. She grabbed the container of white rice and dumped some on her plate and began to reach for another container filled with steamed vegetables.

"I just asked how long the two of you had been together and then, and then that happened." Quinn gestured toward Kurt who was still shaking with what Rachel now realized was laughter. Rachel placed the vegetables back down on the table and began to laugh herself, and Quinn's expression changed from shocked and confused to uncomfortable. "I'm sorry..."

"No, no. We aren't together. We've just been friends since our Sophomore year in high school. Kurt is gay, his boyfriend lives here too actually. He's just at work right now. His name is Blaine." Rachel clarified for Quinn.

Kurt lifted his head, and wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. "Oh Rach, the two of us together. Could you imagine?"

"No Kurt, I honestly couldn't. Here Quinn, get some food." Rachel shoved several of the white and red containers toward Quinn. "Bad enough I was almost your sister-in-law."

Quinn shook her head, "Wait, what? I know I've only know you two for like a half hour, but can I get a little back story?"

"Rachel was engaged to my step-brother, Finn. She broke it off last week though. Finn is heartbroken, Rachel's ecstatic so no need to give her a pity party." Kurt stuck a piece of chicken into his mouth signaling he was finished speaking.

"No, I'm not ecstatic. It just didn't feel right. He's still back home. He didn't want to move to the city so he's working at Kurt's Dad's garage. Which is where he belongs, he is awesome at what he does. I moved here to hopefully pursue a career on Broadway, or at least some kind of stage. Right now I am working at the cafe down the street though. Finn never saw himself in the city and I never saw myself staying in a small town going nowhere. When Kurt, Blaine and I all decided we wanted to live in the city we moved together and Finn was pissed. That should have been my first sign that things weren't going to work out. As of now Kurt is bouncing back and forth between wanting a career on stage or in design and he works with me at the cafe and Blaine has found his niche in the restaurant business of all places. What about you? Tell us about Quinn."

Quinn looked unsure, "I'm Quinn Fabray, I'm 23. I just moved here from Ohio and I..."

Kurt and Rachel looked at each other and finally Rachel spoke, "We are both 23 and from Ohio too. Lima actually, where abouts are you from?"

"Just outside of Toldeo, not too far from Lima actually. That's really weird."

"How did you end up here? School, work, love? Those seems to be the top three reasons why people find themselves in New York City. " Kurt asked as he attempted to eat rice with the chop sticks and failed. He got up and walked to the kitchen and took a fork out of the drawer.

"Life." Quinn answered, looking down at her plate. "I'd prefer not to get into it right now though, if you don't mind." Rachel shot Kurt a disapproving look and he shrugged.

"No, no that is okay. We are pretty much strangers after all. Strangers eating Chinese takeout together on a Friday night after knowing each other for an hour." Rachel said. Quinn lifted her head and smiled at Rachel.

Two hours later Quinn stood up, thanked Kurt and Rachel for dinner and left the apartment. She passed by a boy with dark curly hair who was only slightly taller than she was and he smiled at her. She smiled back, forgetting that she was wearing bright green footie pajamas covered with owls and only remembering once she was in her own apartment. Embarrassed, but happy that she had finally met two people she could see herself being friends with she curled up in the corner of the couch with her laptop and opened the lid.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Quinn logged onto Facebook and was immediately greeted with a message icon, flashing the name of her only good friend left from back home.

**Molly Seeders:** Quinny! How is the big city?

**Quinn Fabray: **Not bad, today was by far the best day yet. I put in more applications at a few jobs and got invited to dinner by the girl down the hall. We had Chinese.

**Molly Seeders: **Ooo, a girl? ;)

**Quinn Fabray: **Yeah, nothing happened or anything. She's straight, just broke an engagement actually.

**Molly Seeders: **Oh god is she one of those people?

**Quinn Fabray:** No I don't think so. The guy is still in Ohio (did I mention she's from Ohio?) and didn't want to come to NY. Conflicting interests I think.

**Molly Seeders: **oh okay. That makes her seem less crazy. Maybe she broke the engagement, not because she fell out of love with her ex but because she fell out of love with all men? Which leads me to this question:What if she was gay?

**Quinn Fabray: **LOL, you are always the optimist. Well, she is really cute. She's shorter than I am, brown hair and brown eyes. And she's a triple threat, sings, dances and acts. She actually went to NYADA but dropped out after a year.

**Molly Seeders: **She sounds like she would be a decent match for you if she was "your type". At least you are meeting people though, right?

**Quinn Fabray: **Yeah I guess. Her roommates are actually gay, and I met one and he seemed nice enough.

**Molly Seeders: **Maybe he can point you in the right direction?

**Quinn Fabray: **We'll see. I just met them in the elevator, I feel like I should get to know them before I ask them to find me a girl friend. But they both seem really cool, we actually ate dinner in our pajamas.

**Molly Seeders: **I thought you said nothing happened! And is eating dinner with random strangers you meet in an elevator a new hobby of yours or...

**Quinn Fabray: **My human contact has been extremely limited the past few days, I would have eaten dinner with anyone if it meant some real human contact. And nothing like that you perv. Rachel came and asked me to eat with them and I had already changed into my pajamas. The footie owl pair believe it or not. And she told me not to worry about changing so I didn't.

**Molly Seeders: **You went to your neighbor's apartment in your footie pajamas? omg Quinn. You've reached a new high in my book.

**Quinn Fabray: **I knew you would appreciate that. :) I'm going to head to bed though, I've got to go out in the morning and pound the pavement some more. Have a good night Molly. Love ya :)

**Molly Seeders: **Love you too Quinny, remember to text me or something since you seemed to have dropped off the edge of the earth when you moved.

Quinn closed her laptop and laid down on the couch to watch some TV before going to bed, thoughts of Rachel running through her head. She shook her head, and mumbled aloud to nobody, "Of course she's straight Quinn, you need to remember that things are never easy in your world."

"There was just a girl walking down the hallway in footed pajamas. Like an adult, not a girl child." Blaine said as he entered the apartment. Kurt walked over and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"That's Quinn." Rachel said, clearing the kitchen table.

"You know her?" Blaine took off his black bow tie and flung it on the counter.

"She just moved in down the hall." Rachel replied nonchalantly.

"She ate dinner with Rachel and I, we met her in the elevator earlier. She just moved to New York from the Toledo area and she's 23 and Rachel couldn't quit staring at her. Quit trying to brush her off as just a girl."

Rachel slapped Kurt in the chest, her ears hot. "Shut up! What do you mean I couldn't quit staring at her?"

"Listen Rachel," Kurt jumped onto the counter and swung his feet. "When you broke up with Finn and decided to finally come completely out of the closet we were all very proud of you. It's only been a week officially but that doesn't matter, you've been over Finn for much longer than that. You were over him before you came out to Blaine and me and that was what, four months ago? Right Blaine? Don't you agree that it is time Rachel found herself a girlfriend?"

"No way, I am out of this one." Blaine shook his head and grabbed the leftovers Rachel had just put away from the fridge.

"She's not even gay, Kurt!"

"Oh yes she is."

"I mentioned that you were gay for a reason, I wanted to judge her reaction. Her reaction was 100% neutral."

"Well that does kind of prove you are attracted to her Rachel if you were trying to figure out her stance on the issue." Blaine said with a mouth full of chicken fried rice that he was eating directly from the container. "She's definitely cute, is she mentally stable?"

"I thought you were staying out of this? Yes, she is ment-"

"Rachel, think about that for a moment. When asked why she moved to New York she said 'life' and would not provide further information about her personal life. She talked about her hobbies, which included singing and dancing and a bit of acting, reading and photography but she would not talk about her past. I do believe that the correct response to Blaine's question would be 'unsure' for now. You need to get to know her before you can answer this, and I think you should get to know her."

"You can't make someone out to be insane just because they don't share their whole life story with someone they have known for an hour, Kurt."

"I just saw her roaming the halls in footed pajamas, normal adults don't roam the halls in footed pajamas." Blaine said skeptically, causing Kurt to smile.

"There is actually a story behind that. When we found out you wouldn't make it home in time for dinner I asked her to join us but she had already changed out of her regular clothes by the time I got to her apartment. Her normal clothes did not feature large, boldly colored nocturnal birds either, Blaine. And besides, your boyfriend liked her pajamas."

"You're being awfully defensive for not being interested in this girl at all." Kurt pointed out, jumping off of the counter top.

Rachel sighed, exasperated. "You two are impossible."

"And your getting awfully upset by my pointing out how defensive you are being. It would be good for your to be in a relationship right now, as long as we can figure out whether or not she is mentally healthy."

Rachel huffed and stormed out of the kitchen and back the hall into her bedroom. She threw herself down on her bed and looked out the window at the bustling street below. She had been engaged to Finn for five years. Five years that had seemed to fly by and take an eternity at the same time. Now, she had broken off that relationship and finally was being honest about who she really was. It felt great, she hated what it had done to Finn but living a lie was a worse feeling. And Quinn. She had only known her a few hours but she had felt _angry_ when Kurt and Blaine had questioned what kind of person she was. She had felt _angry_ when Blaine joked about her pajamas. Rachel had loved them.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** I planned on putting this up last night but life got in the way *shakes fist at life* and I couldn't. Forgive me?

**Chapter Four**

"Hey, wait! Hold the door!" Quinn shouted as she ran across the lobby of her apartment building while carrying two overflowing reusable bags and a small duffel bag. An arm appeared between the closing doors and pushed to open them back up. "Thanks," Quinn sighed, sitting the bags on the floor the elevator as the doors closed.

"No problem," came a voice, causing Quinn to look over at who she was sharing the elevator with.

"Rachel! Oh, hey! I didn't realize it was you, thank you again."

"You seemed a bit flustered," Rachel grinned. "Do you need a hand?"

Quinn hoisted the bags back up and shook her head, "No, I've got it but thank you." The doors opened seconds later and the blond walked out first. "See you later Rachel."

The girls turned their separate ways but a few steps out of the elevator Rachel turned around and watched as Quinn walked away, her high ponytail bouncing with each step. "Quinn?"

Quinn turned around to face Rachel, her gym bag sliding down her shoulder. "Hmm?"

"The boys are going to a show tonight and I was wondering if you'd like to grab dinner or something because I'll be alone and- I'm not trying to sound desperate here. I was just going to order in and watch movies but I'm hungry for a Tex-Mex Burger from Otarian and I like eating in when I go there and just wanted to know if you would want to go with me?"

"I thought you were vegetarian?" Quinn sat the bags on the floor for a second time.

"I am."

"Then you shouldn't eat a Tex-Mex Burger."

"It's vegetarian."

"Oh, okay. Makes sense. Sure, I'll go. Can I change first?" Quinn looked down at her athletic pants and zip up sweatshirt, she had went to the gym before she went to the market.

"That'd be a good idea, just come get me when you're ready." Rachel turned again, hands clenched and nearly shaking from excitement. She hadn't been able to get Quinn off of her mind since Friday evening, no matter how hard she had tried.

Quinn shut the door behind her, threw her duffel bag on the couch and her bags on the counter and jumped in the air while doing a fist pump. She threw the half gallon of milk in the fridge, the microwave meals in the freezer and let the rest of the groceries stay on the counter. She quickly returned to the couch where she fished her phone from the pocket on her duffel bag and ran to her bedroom as she dialed Molly's number.

"Hello?"

"Molly! I can't talk long, but I know I was supposed to call you at 8, but I am going to dinner with Rachel."

"That girl that lives in your apartment with two gay roommates and who you don't think is gay?"

"Yes."

"Dinner with or without the gay roommates?"

"Without." Quinn pulled a dress from her closet and held it up to her while she looked in the full length mirror on the back of her bedroom door.

"Get it girl!"

"Oh my God, Molly. Listen, I'll call you tomorrow."

"Wear your bike dress, a cardigan and your red flats. And leave your hair down. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Have fun." The call ended and Quinn smiled as she looked at the dress in her hand which just so happened to be the "bike dress", as Molly had called from the moment Quinn had pulled it off the rack, which was her favorite.

She put on a red cardigan and her red flats as Molly had suggested and brushed her hair, thankful that she had decided to blow it dry after showering at the gym. She quickly added a touch of makeup and exhaled deeply as she looked at herself in the mirror. She smoothed down her dress and let herself out of the apartment.

"You look nice, I really like your dress." Rachel complimented Quinn as walked down the street toward Otarian.

"You like nice too, is your dress from H&M?" Quinn said, complimenting Rachel's rust orange dress.

"Yes, it's one of my favorite stores."

"Mine too, we'll have to go shopping one day. I am still getting lost every time I step on the subway."

"You'll learn soon enough. You've only been here a week and it takes time to get used to."

The girls walked in near silence the rest of the short walk to the restaurant. It was a nice evening and the sidewalks were crowded with couples and larger groups of people. Within minutes they arrived at the glass fronted restaurant.

Rachel and Quinn walked inside the brightly lit restaurant, glad to see the restaurant was filled but not over packed. Rachel ordered a Tex Mex burger with chiplets and a water and Quinn ordered with a simple, "I'll have the same." Rachel led Quinn to an empty booth and the girls sat down with their food.

"Everything is recycled. The lights are made from broken glass, the baskets on the wall are newspaper, the table is recycled plastic." Rachel pointed out as she watched Quinn look around with wide eyes.

"That's really neat."

Rachel nodded, swallowing a bite of burger. "This is one of my favorite places to eat, I come here a lot. So tell me, how are you liking New York. A little different from Ohio, isn't it?"

"I'm loving it here. I need to find a job though, I am getting bored during the day."

"You're not working anywhere?"

"No, I've put applications in all over the place but I haven't heard back from anywhere yet."

"Oh."

Quinn put a chiplet into her mouth and watched Rachel sip her water as she chewed. "Your wondering how I am living in New York alone without having a job and no promise of having a job in the near future, aren't you?"

Rachel tilted her head forward, and focused on dipping a chiplet into the yogurt dip in front of her. "No, no, not at all. That's your business."

Quinn laughed, "You liar. I could see the gears turning inside your head."

Rachel looked up, cheeks red. "Okay, so I was wondering. The three of us just scrape by in our apartment and we all have full time jobs."

"My Dad is paying for me to live here." Quinn said, watching Rachel's face for a reaction. She began to frown, slightly, and Quinn quickly spoke again. "But not because I am some kind of Daddy's girl who is spoiled, quite the opposite actually. He's embarrassed of me, so he thought if he could get me out of Ohio people would forget about me and it would make his life easier."

"He's _embarassed_ of you? Why? You're, you're pretty and you seem intelligent and you don't seem like a psycho or anything."

"Pregnant at the age of 15, lied about who the father was because I was cheating at the time, gave the baby up for adoption, quit the cheer leading squad to join glee club, started smoking and dyed my hair pink senior year, was with 'too many boys' according to my Dad, dropped out of Yale and went to community college and the final straw was when I told me parents I was gay two months ago." Quinn spoke calmly, ticking each thing off on her fingers as she went along. "Plans to move me here were put in place the next morning. I can't complain though, I guess I needed out of Toldeo and they did all of the work for me."

Rachel's face remained void of expression as she took in the information even though she was surging with emotion. She felt sympathy and sadness, but at the same time joy that Quinn was disclosing this information. She wondered what she had done to make Quinn feel comfortable enough to tell her. And of course, Rachel felt an overwhelming happiness as the straw that broke the camel's back, the last little bit of information that had thrown her father over the edge and made him send her to New York.

Several moments had passed before Rachel spoke, "Quinn, I'm speechless."

**A/N:**

****(It isn't letting me post links, so I'll just explain how you can find it. If you can think of a better idea please let me know!)

Quinn's Bike Dress can be found on Anthropologie. Just type "bike lane dress" into their search and fall in love with it like I did.

Rachel's dress is no longer for sale on H&M (I found it earlier in the week and now it's gone :( ) but you can cheat and find it by image searching "H&M jersey box pleat dress" on Google. Just imagine it in an fantastic rust orange color.

Be sure to check out Otarian's website too, so yummy.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Hope everyone had a good weekend and likes the newest chapter!

**Chapter Five**

Quinn shrugged, "I'm not ashamed of who I am, and what I've done in my past has made me who I am today. When I was going through all of that I hated it, I hated who I was and where I was but now looking back I wouldn't change any of it. I met some of the coolest people by quitting cheer leading and joining glee club and I learned I wasn't a bad singer. And by having Beth I was able to provide a couple with a child they had wanted so badly but couldn't have on their own. I learned more about myself at community college than I ever could have at Yale, and the education I got wasn't a bad one. Every cloud has a silver lining, you know?"

"I don't know you can have that kind of attitude after all of that. Do you still have contact with Beth?"

"Not as much as I used to, they moved to Texas when she was three. But they still send pictures and I email her parents and everything." Quinn reached in her purse and pulled out her wallet, opened it and produced a wallet sized picture that she passed to Rachel. A small girl, about three or four years old, who without a doubt looked exactly like Quinn when she was younger, gave a cheesy grin to the camera. Her blond hair was pulled into two pig tails with pink ribbons, and her eyes scrunched up. Rachel wondered if they were the same hazel color as Quinn's. "That's an older picture, but it's my absolute favorite."

"She's gorgeous, she looks like you." Rachel said, handing the picture back to Quinn. Quinn looked down at the picture with tenderness before gently sliding it back into her wallet, the smallest of smiles on her face. It took everything Rachel had not to stand up and hug the blond.

"Thanks. I get kind of emotional every time I look at the picture." Quinn said, blinking. "But she's leading a life I couldn't have given her no matter how hard I tried, and she has two great parents and two older brothers. She takes dance lessons, and they have horses, and...ah, that's enough talking about me. Tell me more about you."

"What do you want to know?" Rachel asked, unsure where to start.

"Tell me about your siblings." Quinn prompted.

Rachel shook her head, "I'm the only Berry on my family tree." Quinn gave her a puzzled look, causing Rachel to laugh. "Sorry, I'm an only child. I wrote a song in high school about being a singleton and that was a line from it."

Quinn chuckled, "You'll have to sing it for me sometime. I only have an older sister, Frannie. We aren't close at all though."

"I had always wanted a sibling, mainly so I could have bunk beds, but my Dads would barely handle me so..."

"Dads?" Quinn asked, taking a the last bite of her burger.

"Mmmhmm, my dads are gay. Your next question is going to be, 'Are you adopted?' and the answer is no. Surrogacy."

"What was it like growing up with two dads?"

"I don't really have anything to compare it to but I had a great childhood. They're really are great had parties for every award show, played piano and sang when we had guests for dinner and I was immersed in the arts but I guess kids with straight parents can have all of that too. "

"Nobody ever picked on you in school or anything because you didn't have a mom?"

"No, not for having two days, I did get bullied a lot for other things though. No one at school really knew about my two dads, I didn't have any friends really, not until glee, and nobody from school was in my dance, voice, theater or piano classes."

"What do you mean you didn't have any friends?"

"I just didn't. I didn't have time."

"Well I guess not with all of those classes and everything."

Rachel sighed, relieved the conversation had come to an end. She didn't want to explain to Quinn what had went on in her early high school years, the bullying, name calling, the pictures drawn on the walls of the bathroom stalls, and the slushies being tossed on her on a weekly basis. Rachel was sure Quinn's high school years had been the exact opposite, she saw her as the popular cheerleader, the one who ruled the school. The one who parted the hallways when she walked down them.

Quinn pulled out her cell phone to look at the time, "It's still early, do you want to go for a walk before we go back home?"

Rachel agreed knowing Blaine and Kurt wouldn't be home until late.

Fifteen minutes later the girls found themselves leaning over the edge of the Gapstow Bridge, watching couples make their way around The Pond, enjoying the warm spring evening. A young couple walked by with their hands in each other's back pockets, the girl leaned into the boy as they walked over the bridge in step.

"You seem to be doing pretty well for breaking off an engagement last week." Quinn spoke, breaking the silence, as she shifted her body to face Rachel.

"It's been a long time coming, Quinn. The long distance relationship thing starts to get old after a while, and you start to doubt if it is really meant to be, meant to last." Rachel quickly stammered.

"So that's it? You broke the relationship because you questioned whether or not it was right?"

"Well, no." Rachel sighed and turned so her back was against the stone wall of the bridge and Quinn followed suit. "We were engaged for five years, we were seniors when he proposed. People tried to talk me out of it, but I said yes and I shouldn't have. Others knew me better than I knew myself. After high school I went to NYADA for a year but dropped out and moved back to Lima. I moved in with Finn and his parents, but it just wasn't what I wanted. I wasn't happy. I thought it was Lima, but it was Finn. So, I moved back to New York and Blaine and Kurt came too and I realized...I, I began to question who I was. I had questioned it before, but it got serious and-"

Quinn put her hand on Rachel's arm to stop her, "Rachel, are you gay?" Rachel's eyes began to well up with tears and her chin quivered as she dropped her gaze to her feet. Quinn looked around, unsure of what she should do. She hadn't known Rachel long, even though in some ways it felt like she had known her a life time, she shouldn't have asked her such a personal question.

Quinn bit her lip and then wrapped her arms around Rachel's small frame knowing it could be the best or worst thing to do.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

The two girls stood on the bridge in each other's arms for several moments before Quinn finally spoke. "Are you okay?"

Rachel pulled out of the embrace and Quinn tucked the brown hair that had fell in her face behind Rachel's ear. Quinn watched Rachel's face for a reaction, and finally her brown eyes made their way up to lock with Quinn's hazel ones. Quinn gently grabbed Rachel's shoulders, their eyes still locked, and repeated herself, "You okay?" Rachel's eyes were still filled with unfallen tears and her chin was still quivering slightly.

Rachel nodded, casting her eyes downward again.

"Are you sure?" Quinn asked again, unsure of what had happened and what her response and actions should be.

Rachel nodded again, eyes still down, staring at the paved surface of the bridge. Quinn checked the time on her phone, it was only ten after seven. She looked around the park at the people walking about and sighed. She thought for a moment and then spoke, "Kurt probably isn't home yet. Let's go back to my place and we can hang out there until they get back from their show."

"Okay." Rachel said in a barely audible voice as she looked out across The Pond.

Quinn stood still, waiting for Rachel to begin walking and spoke when she didn't move after several moments, "Rachel, I have no fucking clue how to get us out of this park. You're going to have to lead the way if we're going home."

Rachel grinned, "It's easy."

Rachel led Quinn down 5th Ave and across 50th Street to their apartment, the entire time explaining to Quinn how to navigate Manhattan's busy streets. Avenues run north to south, Streets run east to west. Avenue's get higher as you go west, Streets get higher as you go north. She continued on, offering up tips on hailing a cab and riding the subway. Places to avoid, and places that were good to hang out.

Quinn nodded and spoke at the appropriate times although she retained very little of the information Rachel was offering. Instead her mind was focused on what had happened on the bridge, and whether or not Rachel really was gay. She was unsure, and confused by the reaction she had received after she had asked but she decided not to hound for more information. Obviously she had gotten upset and there had to be a reason.

"I am going to go put pajamas on, you can borrow some if you want." Quinn said as they entered her apartment.

"I'm okay."

"Well then, just make yourself at home." Quinn said as she walked into her bedroom and shut the door. She grabbed her phone from her purse and quickly typed a message to Molly.

"i no i said i wud call u later but it will have 2 wait till tom."

She pressed send and then quickly changed into a pair of lounge pants and a tee shirt from her alma matter, Owens Community College. Carefully, she hung her dress and cardigan back in her closet and slid her shoes into the organizer on the back of the door. Her phone buzzed just as she shut the closet door and she read the reply message from Molly, "k."

Quinn rolled her eyes. Molly always replied to messages with "k" and it was one of Quinn's biggest pet peeves. And she had kind of expected a longer reply from her best friend. She shrugged it off plugged her phone into the charger.

Quinn expected to find Rachel inspecting the photos on the walls and stands of the living room when she walked out but instead what she found was the brown haired girl curled up in a ball at the end of the couch, her back to the room. Quinn tiptoed over and peered over Rachel to find her eyes shut and her mouth slightly agape. She scratched the back of her head as she watched Rachel's body rise and fall slightly with each breath and then walked back into her bedroom to retrieve a throw from under her bed. She gently placed it on the sleeping brunette before sitting down carefully on the opposite end of the couch. She looked at Rachel and then away and then back again, trying to decide if she should rouse her or leave her sleep.

The decision was made for her when the opening bars of "Don't Rain On My Parade" came from the kitchen. Quinn looked back to Rachel, who remained asleep, and then stood up and walked to the kitchen to find the source of the sound. Rachel's navy wristlet lay on the counter and the song started to play again, the sound coming from inside the wristlet. Hesitating for a moment, Quinn unzipped the wristlet and took out the phone, careful not to move anything. She hit the 'answer' icon and put the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" Quinn whispered, cupping her hand around her mouth.

"Rachel? Where are you? Why are you whispering?"

"This is Quinn, not Rachel."

"Oh, this is Kurt. I didn't even know I had your number, sorry."

"No, no this is Rachel's phone. She's asleep."

"Um, I don't really know what I am supposed to say to that." Kurt said, stumbling over his words.

"Oh God, no. Wow. We went out for dinner and then walked through Central Park and she came to my house because you weren't home yet. I went to change my clothes and when I came back out she was asleep on my couch."

"You guys went on a date?"

"Not a date, just dinner, a walk and now here. I didn't want her to be alone, she got upset in Central Park because I asked her if she was gay."

"Are you gay?"

"Yes, that's what I asked her."

"No, I mean you. Are _you_ gay?"

"Yes. Is that a problem or something?" Quinn asked, moving out of the kitchen and into her bedroom where she sat on the bed.

"No, that's not a problem." Quinn could tell Kurt was smiling by the way he spoke. "Does Rachel know?

"I think I told her at dinner."

"Why don't you come over to our apartment, we're getting ready to have a quick drink before bed."

"I'll wake Rachel..."

"No! You never, ever wake a sleeping Rachel Berry. Let her sleep."

"Okay, give me a minute and I'll be over." Quinn hung up the phone and slid it carefully back into the wristlet and then zipped it back up. She opened a drawer in the kitchen and took out a pad of paper and scrawled a quick note,

"Went to your apartment to have a drink with Kurt & Blaine. -Quinn"

Quinn placed the note on top of Rachel's wristlet and then walked across the living room to turn on a table lamp. Rachel had rolled over slightly, causing the blanket to fall off of her and Quinn adjusted it, being careful not to wake her. Quinn turned the rest of the lights off at the switch by the door and let herself out of the apartment, making sure the door was shut and locked behind her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Kurt, Blaine and Quinn were seated around the kitchen table, each working on a mixed drink made by Blaine. He had found the recipe online and decided to make Kurt and Quinn his guinea pigs.

"Why do we only ever see each other in pajamas?" Quinn asked Kurt.

"I'm not sure, Quinn." Kurt smiled, stirring his drink with a neon colored plastic straw.

"So, what exactly happened tonight with Rachel?"

Quinn looked at Blaine and shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, "I don't know. She was telling me about breaking it off with Finn and then said she had questioned herself and I cut her off and asked if she was gay. She started crying, not hard or anything, but she definitely got upset quickly. So I hugged her, and suggested we go back to my place until you two got home and then she fell asleep and now here we are."

Blaine and Kurt turned to each other for a moment, communicating with their expressions instead of words. Finally Kurt turned back to Quinn, "I don't know."

"Maybe, maybe she didn't know how to feel." Blaine spoke like he had just had an epiphany. "She hasn't been out for long, we've _officially_ known for a few months, but we've known for much longer. Actually everyone has known for a while, but she didn't tell them until she broke up with Finn. So maybe that's why? You're the first person who she hasn't known for years that she has told."

"Could be." Kurt agreed. "You're out right Quinn?"

"That's the reason why I am here." Quinn answered. When Kurt and Blaine stared at her she continued, "I told my parents two months ago that I was gay. And when I did they, mainly my father, began the process of moving me here. They thought it was shameful, and along with all of my other, in their words, 'mistakes', they didn't want me in Toldeo anymore."

Kurt nudged Blaine's foot under the table, "What does 'other mistakes' mean?"

Quinn took a long swig of her drink and began to tick things off on her fingers as she had done earlier in the evening with Rachel, "Cheated on my boyfriend, got pregnant in high school, joined glee club and quit cheer leading, dyed my hair pink, started smoking, dropped out of Yale, dated too many boys before finally accepting who I was and admitting I am gay."

"You have a baby?" Blaine asked, eyebrow raised.

"I put her up for adoption. I wasn't ready to be a mom and her father wasn't read to be a dad. We would never work together, obviously."

"Her father is the one you cheated on?" Blaine asked while Kurt sat silent beside him, still stirring his drink and looking like he was thinking hard about what Quinn was saying.

"No, it was a one night stand. I was having a hard time, it was right when I began questioning my sexuality and I had a few too many wine coolers and he was telling me I was pretty and that he loved me and I liked hearing that and things went a little too far and well, we all know how it ended."

Blaine nodded, understandingly. Kurt furrowed his brow, "You can't cheat on Rachel."

"Excuse me?"

"You can't cheat on Rachel."

"Kurt, she's not dating Rachel." Blaine looked from Kurt to Quinn, "Are you?"

"N-no. No, I am not dating Rachel. I've only known her since Friday. And cheating isn't exactly something I make a habit of doing. Especially now." Quinn spoke quickly, looking down at her nearly empty glass. "I think I am going to go now, I need to get up early tomorrow."

Quinn stood up from the table and placed her drink in the sink. "Thanks for having me over."

"Are you just going to let Rachel sleep at your place? She has to work at eight tomorrow morning so she needs up at six." Blaine said as he looked at the dry erase board calendar stuck to the front of the fridge.

"I can get her up." Quinn said, her hand on the door. "Goodnight."

Quinn let herself out of the apartment, feeling embarrassed. They were already worried that Rachel would date her and get hurt.

Quinn let herself into her apartment stopping at the door to flick on the lights. Rachel was still curled up at the end of the couch, the blanket had fallen onto the floor beside her and her dress was twisted around her body revealing more of her toned legs. She stood in the middle of the living room watching the girl sleep, Rachel exhaled deeply and threw her arm over her face before mumbling incoherently under her breath. Quinn smiled, picked the blanket up off the floor and gently placed it over Rachel once again. Almost immediately Rachel pulled the blanket closed to her and snuggled down into the couch.

Quinn walked back to her bedroom and set the alarm to 5:45 am so she could wake up Rachel. She climbed under her own covers, a million thoughts going through her head. She was finding herself attracted to Rachel, but didn't know how Rachel felt about her especially since Kurt and Blaine couldn't explain the crying in the park. She was nervous about waking Rachel up and seeing how she reacted to finding herself on the couch of Quinn's apartment. Quinn rolled over and pulled the covers over her head, determined to fall asleep quickly so she wouldn't miss the alarm in the morning.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

At quarter to six Quinn's alarm began to sound. She groaned, rolled over and slapped the top making the noise stop and forgetting why she had set it to go off so early in the first place. Seven minutes later the noise started again, Quinn hit the off button and then sat up in bed. She used one hand to rub the sleep from her eyes as she ran the other hand through her messy blond locks. She blinked slowly a few times and then suddenly remembered why she had gotten up so early in the first place.

Realizing she only had five minutes until she needed to wake Rachel up she swung her legs over the bed and darted to the bathroom to brush her teeth and comb her hair. Once she was satisfied with her appearance Quinn tiptoed to the living room where Rachel was still asleep on the couch, her back now facing the room. Gently Quinn tapped her on her bare shoulder and when that got no response she tried a little harder.

"Rach, come on. You have to go to work." Quinn said, shaking Rachel's shoulder as she knelt down beside the couch.

"I. Am. Sleeping!" Rachel growled, swinging her right arm, her hand in a fist, over her body and hitting Quinn in the nose.

"Shit Rachel!" Quinn screamed, cupping her face with her hands as blood started to pour from her nose.

"Quinn!" Rachel yelled, sitting up at once, now suddenly awake. "Go to the bathroom!"

Quinn turned and ran for the bathroom, Rachel on her heels. The girls stared at each other with wide eyes in the small bathroom, Quinn's hands were still covering her nose but were no longer containing the blood.

"I'm so sorry." Rachel whispered.

"Worry about that later, I don't know how to make this stop." Quinn mumbled as she held her face over the sink and turned the faucet on with her pinky.

"You need to sit down." Rachel ordered as she started opening drawers under the sink until she found the one she needed and pulled out a hand towel. Quinn obeyed and sat on the toilet, once again cupping her nose. Rachel ran the small towel under the cool water as she gave Quinn her next instruction, "Pinch your nose, right in the middle. And lean your head forward so the blood doesn't drain down your throat."

"Ugh that's gross." Quinn sighed, leaning her head forward and pinching her nose where Rachel instructed her to. She grabbed a handful of tissues from the sink beside her and held them under her nose.

Rachel wrung out of the hand towel and passed it to Quinn, "Put this over your nose, but keep pinching it." She stood and watched Quinn for a moment before crouching in front of her.

Quinn's eyes came up from the floor to Rachel's, "I now see why I was told not to wake you up. I should have just set an alarm for you."

"Who told you that?"

"Kurt."

Rachel grinned, "Yeah, I got him good once. Not in the nose though. I'm really sorry Quinn, I really am."

"Well, as long as you didn't do it on purpose I forgive you."

"I swear it wasn't on purpose, and thank you for forgiving me. I am sorry I crashed here last night."

"It's no problem, on both counts. Can we talk about last night though? Is everything okay?"

"I'll be right back." Rachel said suddenly, exiting the bathroom. Quinn sighed and wondered if Rachel was just trying to ignore the subject. Still, she remained seated, pinching her nose and holding the cool rag against her face.

Five minutes later Rachel returned, "Alright, let's see."

"I'll be alright. You're going to be late for work."

"I just punched you in the face, I am not going to leave until I make sure you're okay. Now, go ahead and sit up straight. And you can take the rag off."

"How does it look?" Quinn asked after she had removed the hand towel from her nose.

Rachel cringed, "Quinn I am so sorry. I didn't think I hit you that hard. Oh my god, I am so sorry." Quinn's nose was swollen, and the area underneath her eyes was beginning to turn purple. Rachel got a new rag from under the sink and began to wet it with warm water from the sink as Quinn stood up to look at herself in the mirror.

"I haven't looked like this since my first high school party when I walked into a punch." Quinn sighed, gently touching her nose and wincing. "Do you think it's broken?"

Rachel shook her head, "No, just keep an eye on it. Sit down."

Without even a second thought Quinn sat back down, "You're going to be really late for work."

"I just took care of it, I told them I was going to be late. Hold still." Rachel crouched back down in front of Quinn so their faces were level and gently dabbed at the dried blood around her nose. After cleaning Quinn's face off Rachel paused, her face inches from Quinn's. The girls locked eyes for a brief second, causing Quinn's stomach to do flips, before Rachel stood up in front of her.

Quinn's eyes followed her upward and to the sink where she washed her hands. "I've got to get going, I told them I'd only be a little late. But if you need anything, call me. I'm really sorry about your nose."

Quinn nodded, feeling let down. "Thanks for uh, helping me get it under control."

"Just keep icing it for twenty minutes at a time, it'll help the bruising. I'll check on you when I get off work, if that's okay?" Quinn nodded again in response. "Well, try to have a good day." Rachel said, walking back toward Quinn and leaning down to give her a quick kiss on her forehead like she had been doing it every day for their entire lives and then turned and walked out of the bathroom and out of Quinn's apartment, grabbing her things from the counter on the way out.

Quinn remained seated on the toilet, "What in the fuck?" she asked herself aloud. She got up and looked at herself in the mirror, her bedhead had returned, her tee shirt had blood all over the front and her face was looking worse than it had minutes before. She leaned in closer to the mirror and gingerly ran two fingers under her eye and down the side of her nose, wincing the entire time. She moved her fingers up her face until it landed on the spot where Rachel's lips had touched and she paused, letting her fingers rest on that spot. Quinn smiled at herself in the mirror, and then laughed out loud at how absurd the past twelve hours had been.

Back in her bedroom, Quinn changed out of her bloody shirt and into a clean one and climbed back in bed for a little more sleep having no desire to search the city for a job looking like she had been in a bar fight.

Rachel burst into her apartment and found Blaine making coffee in the kitchen. He looked her over, her hair mussed and dress wrinkled, and raised an eyebrow. "You're running late."

Rachel exhaled loudly, her face contorted into a frown, "I punched her, Blaine."

"You punched who? Quinn?" Blaine sat his mug down on the counter and turned his body fully toward Rachel who nodded her head. "Why in the hell did you punch her? You can't punch people, Rachel!"

"She tried to wake me up for work and I punched her in the nose and it bled and she's all bruised. I feel awful. I helped clean her up and I kissed her on the forehead and I probably shouldn't have because she probably hates me. She woke up early so she could wake me up and I punched her. Who in the hell does that? Apparently me." Rachel paced the kitchen as she spoke.

Blaine laughed, "Only you would do that. We did warn her that you were dangerous to wake up."

Rachel rolled her eyes, "You're not helping."

"So what happened in the park last night?"

"What? She told you about that?"

"Yes. What happened?"

"I don't have time." Rachel spoke quickly. "I have to hurry up and get ready for work." Rachel strode out of the kitchen and back the hallway to her bedroom.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **Today I found out that you can get a lot of writing done when you go without Internet for an hour. Hope everyone had an awesome weekend and like this chapter!

**Chapter Nine**

Quinn woke up for the second time that morning a little after ten and made herself a bowl of cereal before settling in on the couch to call Molly.

"Quinny! How was your night?"

"Good. Confusing. Painful this morning though." Quinn balanced the bowl of Lucky Charms in her lap as she switched ears.

"Um, what exactly happened last night?" Molly asked. Quinn could just picture her furrowed brow and raised eyebrow.

"We went to dinner, and then to Central Park and we talked and I asked her about breaking off the engagement, and she started telling me why and I asked her if she was gay and then she cried."

"Shit Quinn, you made her cry and you've only known her three days."

"I know, I felt bad about it too. She wouldn't tell me why she cried, or even if she _is_ gay. But she gave me two black eyes and a swollen nose this morning so I consider it even."

"Jesus Christ, I am hoping that you walked into it again and that she didn't do it on purpose."

"I didn't walk into it, but it wasn't on purpose. I woke her up and she started swinging."

"You slept with her? I am pretty sure that means she is on Team Lesbian. Not positive, but I think that is how it works."

"No, I don't sleep with her, Molly. We came back to my place after the park and I went to change out of the Bike Dress and when I came back out she had fallen asleep on my couch."

"Well, darn, that would have made things much more interesting."

"MOLLY!"

"Sorry, sorry. So how is your nose?"

"It hurts, but I think I'l live. I don't think it's broken, Rachel said she didn't think it was either. She actually made herself late for work because she helped me get it cleaned up and made sure I was okay. And she kissed me on the forehead, but I don't know if it was just a friendly kiss or if it was something more. I need to find out why she cried last night. I went to her apartment and had a drink with her two roommates and they couldn't figure out why she would have cried either. I don't know what to think."

"When did the drinks happen?"

"After she fell asleep."

"So you had dinner, went to the park and made her cry, went back to your place, she fell asleep, you went to her apartment and drank with her gay roommates, she punched you in the face, cleaned you up, kissed you and now here you are? You are leading an exciting life in New York Quinny. So, do you want the kiss thing to be just friendly or do you want it to be something more?"

"I think I like her."

"So, what is her name again?"

"Rachel Berry, why?"

"She's from Lima, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"Oooh Quinn she is cute! I'm Facebook stalking her. She likes Broadway, Barbra Streisand…"

"Molly stop! You can't Facebook stalk her!"

"Why not? I think you should defiantly pursue her, she's really cute."

"I already know that, I've seen her."

"She looks short, is she short? Maybe this boy is really tall, I think his name is Finn."

"She's shorter than I am, Finn was her fiance. You keep stalking her, I am going to get off of here and finish my cereal before it gets too soggy. I'll call you later."

"Have you seen her in a bikini?"

"What? No, I haven't seen her in a bikini, what are you even doing?"

"You need to get on her Facebook then, she has pictures from a vacation to somewhere and if you don't go after her I am moving to New York with you."

"Bye Molly."

"Quinn wait, this says she is-"

Quinn hung up the phone and stirred her soggy cereal in the milk that had become pastel pinkish grey from the marshmallows and realizing that her breakfast was past the point of no return. It wasn't even cereal anymore. She sighed, and walked the bowl to the kitchen where she dumped it down the sink. Just as she had finished rinsing the last of the cereal and the milk down the drain there was a knock on the door. Quinn walked to the door and looked through the peephole to see Blaine standing on the other side.

"Good morning Quinn, I can see your eye. I was just on my way to work and I wanted to see your face." Blaine called through the door as Quinn looked through at him. Quinn opened the door and Blaine looked her over, wincing. "She really did a number on you, didn't she?"

"I haven't looked at it since right after it happened, but judging by the way it feels, yes."

"Well, you try to have a good day. You might want to get some ice on it or something."

"Thanks, I'll go look at it. Have fun at work." Quinn shut the door after Blaine turned away and made her way to the bathroom to inspect the damages. She was surprised to discover that it actually looked the same, if not better, than it had earlier that morning. She found herself thinking that Rachel's kiss had magical healing powers but then laughed and reminded herself that she was 23, not seven. She decided to go ahead and get a shower, and found out quickly that water spraying anywhere near her nose felt a lot like being punched all over again. It might look better, but it definitely did not feel better.

Quinn turned off the water and heard someone once again knocking at the door. Unsure of what to do, she wrapped her sopping hair in a towel and wrapped an oversized towel around her body and walked to the door, leaving a trail of water behind her. Just like before she looked out of the peephole and was surprised to see Rachel standing in front of the door holding a paper cup and a brown bag. Quinn looked around, suddenly very unsure how to go about this. She opened the door a crack, "Rachel, I just got out of the shower."

"Are you naked?"

"I have a towel on." Quinn replied, confused.

"Then let me in."

Quinn obeyed and Rachel walked in the apartment and placed the bag and cup on the counter in the kitchen, "I don't know if you like coffee or donuts, but I brought you a coffee and a peanut butter donut. I felt bad about your nose so I left work early. Do you want to do something or something?"

"You didn't have to leave work for me, but thanks for the breakfast, uh lunch. Brunch maybe? Mine got ruined this morning."

"How?" Rachel asked pulling the donut out of the bag and handing it to Quinn.

"I made cereal and I was talking on the phone to my friend Molly from back home and it got too soggy to eat." Quinn took a bite of the donut, wondering instantly how far away the bakery was it came from because it was just that good.

"Molly Seeders?"

"Uh huh." Quinn said with her mouth full of donut, "How did you know?"

"She sent me a friend request on Facebook." Rachel smiled, taking the lid off the coffee and handing it to Quinn.

"Damn her." Quinn sipped the hot drink and laughed. "I told her to quit stalking you, sorry about that. She's my best friend but she is absolutely nuts."

"Did you look at my profile?"

Quinn shook her head, "No."

Rachel sighed, "Go get dressed, I need to make this morning up to you."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

"Have you rode the subway yet?" Rachel asked as the they made their way down the stairs and into the underground city that was the New York City metro system.

"No." Quinn answered, eye wide trying to absorb everything going on around her.

"Okay, well first we need to get you a Metro Card. We'll just do two rides for now and then you can get a different one later." Rachel began tapping on the kiosk screen explaining to Quinn how the Metro Cards worked. Quinn was totally oblivious to the whole process as she stood with her back to Rachel, still taking in her surroundings. Rachel passed the yellow card to Quinn who had suddenly snapped back to reality.

"Where are we going?"

Rachel walked through the turnstile and instructed Quinn on using her metrocard, "Black bar toward you. Fast, but not too fast. I told you we are going to my favorite part of Manhattan."

Quinn walked through the turnstile without problems and pocketed her card, "I don't know what your favorite part of Manhattan is."

"That's why I am going to show you." Rachel countered, stopping behind the yellow line to wait on the train. "How long have you been friends with Molly?"

"Since high school, we met in glee club." Quinn responded peering down the tracks for the train.

"You're looking the wrong way." Rachel corrected. "Is she, is she gay?"

"Yeah." Quinn said, now looking the opposite direction.

"Oh." Rachel said, looking defeated.

"We've never dated if that's what you're wondering, I love her to death and she's my best friend but she's definitely not my type."

Rachel perked up, "What is your-"

"Ooo! Is that our train?" Quinn interrupted Rachel, and stepped back as the train came to a stop in front of them.

Rachel laughed, "That's ours. We get on after everyone else gets off." People began to stream past the duo and when they stop Rachel led Quinn into the train that was nearly empty. "Okay, so you can either sit or stand."

"Stand!" Quinn said, grabbing a hold of the metal pole in the middle of the compartment.

Rachel smiled and grabbed onto the pole below where Quinn had it. "When it starts moving you need to hold on because you'll lurch forward." Rachel instructed, but not soon enough. The train began to move before Quinn could tighten her hold causing her to fall into Rachel and making Rachel grab onto her to keep her standing.

"Sorry!" Quinn apologized pulling herself away from Rachel. "I wasn't expecting it to be that bad."

"You're fine." Rachel smiled, feeling her ears get hot. "You just have to learn how to balance, you have to do it when the train stops too." Rachel watched as Quinn moved her feet apart two or three inches and bent her knees a little bit, preparing herself for the stop. "Quinn, you don't have to get into a special stance, just move your body. I don't care if you fall on me."

"I wasn't in a special stance." Quinn said, defending herself as she nonchalantly stood up normally again. "But I might fall into you again. Just a warning."

"What if I don't catch you?"

"You already did this today," Quinn gestured to her nose, "and you are now threatening to let me fall?"

"I wouldn't let you fall."

"I am going to sit down, I don't trust you Rachel Berry."

Rachel smiled at the sound of Quinn saying her first and last name and sat down beside her on the orange plastic bench seat.

A few more stops, a train transfer, another couple of stops and a short walk later Quinn found herself seated on a bench in Battery Park beside Rachel, and staring out at the New York Harbor, filled with boats and ferries, and of course the Statue of Liberty. Rachel leaned back on the bench and Quinn followed suit.

"Why is this your favorite place?" Quinn asked, crossing her arms across her chest as a gust of wind blew by carrying the cool air in off the water.

Rachel shrugged, "I don't know, this area is a lot different than Midtown. I came here right after I moved to the city, I was out one day just wandering around the city, and I fell in love with it."

"I like it too, thanks for bringing me."

"Well after this morning the least I could do is show you my favorite place to watch boats. This is dumb, we can go do something more exciting. Do you want to go to to a museum or a show or something? Sorry, this is lame."

"No, no. Not at all, I just learned something about you, you enjoy watching boats! Why do you like boats?"

Rachel grinned, "I don't really like boats, I mean there is nothing wrong with boats but I don't have like a boat collecting hobby, or anything. I just, I just like sitting here and watching them and I like this area. It's not the boats."

"Let's play the question game, we've kind of got an odd start to this whole thing and we really don't know much about one another. You can go first."

"What's the question game?"

"Ah! That counts as your first question, Rachel! The question game is just that, you just ask questions about anything. The only rule is the answer must be truthful you can answer with one word or you can go in depth. It's all up to you. Alright, my turn. Let's see, um... Rachel, what is your middle name?"

"Barbra, after Barbra Striesand. Yours?"

"Quinn. My first name is actually Lucy. I got picked on in elementary school because Lucy rhymes with caboosey and so I started going by Quinn. My turn, um...grossest thing to ever happen to you?"

Rachel exhaled loudly, "Junior year we did this whole alcohol awareness thing at McKinley, and New Directions was preforming at the assembly. Well, my Dads were out of town so I had a party the weekend before, that is a whole other story, but that Monday everyone was still hung over and I had this bright idea to mix a bunch of different liquors and just a bunch of other stuff and we all took a shot before we preformed. Well, halfway through Tik Tok my friend Brittany threw up all over me. It was the worst thing to ever happen to me on stage and I can smell it right now just talking about it so I am going to stop and ask you your question. Can I call you Lucy?"

"As long as you don't call me Lucy Caboosey." Quinn smiled, removing her eyes from the boats to look at Rachel. "Remember the rules, you have to answer the question. No passing allowed."

Rachel remained still, focusing on the boats in the distance, knowing exactly what Quinn was about to ask.

"What happened in the park last night, Rachel?" Quinn asked nervously, watching Rachel for a reaction but her face remained neutral.

Rachel turned her head away to the right, away from Quinn and paused for several moments. Quinn waited, and tried to brush her wind whipped hair behind her ears. At last Rachel turned back around, biting her lip. "I feel stupid."

"You don't have to feel stupid." Quinn placed her hand over Rachel's and squeezed gently, "I'm just curious what happened, if I said something wrong."

"No, you didn't say anything wrong. Can I rewind things a little?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Back in high school," Rachel started, and then hesitated for a moment. Quinn squeezed her hand again she took a deep breath and started again. "I wasn't liked much in high school. I was too much of a leader, too sure of myself, I didn't know how to dress or do my hair and I didn't know how to make friends. I was never sure of my sexuality, but I saw how my friends struggled when they came out I didn't want to have to go through that so I just convinced myself I was straight and that was that. I dated a few boys, got engaged to Finn, but I never could tell anyone who I really was. I did love Finn, but I didn't _love_ Finn."

"I know exactly where you are coming from."

"And when, and when I met you in the elevator on Friday I couldn't get you out of my head, and then I find out you're gay and when you asked me I was just...just overwhelmed and kind of had a mini break down I guess. I've never had to come out to someone else who was gay and that I had developed a crush on over the course of a weekend. God, I can't believe I am telling you this. You probably think I am a blabbering idiot, I _am _a blabbering idiot. God." Rachel put her face in her hands and shook her head. "I am a fucking idiot."

"You couldn't get me out of your head?" Quinn asked, grinning.

"No I couldn't get you out of my fucking head. And while I am making myself sound ridiculous I should probably go ahead and tell you that I had a dream the other night where I took you back to Lima with me and introduced you to my Dads and my friends. And then we came back to New York and got our own apartment and we adopted a cat and you named him Lord Tubbington II after my friend Brittany's cat."

"Your friend has a cat named Lord Tubbington?"

"Yes. Wait, why are you worried about Brittany's cat name when you should probably be running away because I am a freak?"

"Because I don't think you are a freak." Quinn smiled, pushing Rachel's hair behind her ear. She closed her eyes and leaned in slowly, letting her lips meet Rachel's in a passionate kiss. "In fact, I think I kind of like you."


End file.
